Hinshaw natural gas pipeline systems; consider as public utilities.

S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~ G1/2
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 1 (aa\kr)

To: Energy; Public Property
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2026

By: Senator(s) Carter

SENATE BILL NO. 2061

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 77-3-3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO 1
DEFINE "HINSHAW NATURAL GAS PIPELINE SYSTEM" AND INCLUDE IT IN THE 2
DEFINITION OF "PUBLIC UTILITY"; TO AMEND SECTION 77-3-5, 3
MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO GIVE THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 4
JURISDICTION OVER HINSHAW NATURAL GAS PIPELINE SYSTEMS; TO AMEND 5
SECTION 77-3-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR 6
CERTIFICATION AND APPROVAL OF HINSHAW NATURAL GAS PIPELINE 7
SYSTEMS; TO STIPULATE INSTANCES WHEN HINSHAW NATURAL GAS PIPELINE 8
SYSTEMS MUST SEEK APPROVAL FROM THE COMMISSION; TO PROVIDE FOR THE 9
CREATION OF JURISDICTIONAL CONTRACTS BETWEEN HINSHAW NATURAL GAS 10
PIPELINE SYSTEMS AND THIRD PARTIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 11
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: 12
SECTION 1. Section 77-3-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 13
amended as follows: 14
77-3-3. As used in this chapter: 15
(a) The term "corporation" includes a private or public 16
corporation, a municipality, an association, a joint-stock 17
association or a business trust. 18
(b) The term "person" includes a natural person, a 19
partnership of two (2) or more persons having a joint or common 20
interest, a cooperative, nonprofit, limited dividend or mutual 21
association, a corporation, or any other legal entity. 22
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 2 (aa\kr)

(c) The term "municipality" includes any incorporated 23
city, town or village. 24
(d) The term "public utility" includes persons and 25
corporations, or their lessees, trustees and receivers now or 26
hereafter owning or operating in this state equipment or 27
facilities for: 28
(i) The generation, manufacture, transmission, 29
distribution, provision, or furnishing of electricity to or for 30
the public, whether an individual person or an entity or a 31
collection of persons or entities, for compensation; 32
(ii) 1. The transmission, sale, sale for resale, 33
or distribution of natural, artificial, or mixed natural and 34
artificial gas to the public for compensation by means of 35
transportation, transmission, or distribution facilities and 36
equipment located within this state; however, the term shall not 37
include the production and gathering of natural gas, the sale of 38
natural gas in or within the vicinity of the field where produced, 39
or the distribution or sale of liquefied petroleum gas or the sale 40
to the ultimate consumer of natural gas for use as a motor vehicle 41
fuel; 42
2. This subparagraph (ii) shall include all 43
Hinshaw natural gas pipeline systems for the purposes of 44
regulation of rules, services and facilities by the commission. 45
"Hinshaw natural gas pipeline system" means a pipeline that is 46
physically located within the State of Mississippi and engaged in 47
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 3 (aa\kr)

interstate commerce that provides natural gas for consumption 48
within the State of Mississippi, and through the regulatory 49
jurisdiction exercised by the State of Mississippi is exempt from 50
the Natural Gas Act of 1938 ("NGA") by reason of Section 1(c) of 51
the NGA. 52
(iii) The transmission, conveyance or reception of 53
any message over wire, of writing, signs, signals, pictures and 54
sounds of all kinds by or for the public, where such service is 55
offered to the public for compensation, and the furnishing, or the 56
furnishing and maintenance, of equipment or facilities to the 57
public, for compensation, for use as a private communications 58
system or part thereof; however, no person or corporation not 59
otherwise a public utility within the meaning of this chapter 60
shall be deemed such solely because of engaging in this state in 61
the furnishing, for private use as last aforementioned, and 62
moreover, nothing in this chapter shall be construed to apply to 63
television stations, radio stations, community television antenna 64
services, video services, Voice over Internet Protocol services 65
("VoIP"), any wireless services, including commercial mobile 66
services, Internet Protocol ("IP") - enabled services or broadband 67
services; and 68
(iv) The transmission, distribution, sale or 69
resale of water to the public for compensation, or the collection, 70
transmission, treatment or disposal of sewage, or otherwise 71
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 4 (aa\kr)

operating a sewage disposal service, to or for the public for 72
compensation. 73
The term "public utility" shall not include any person not 74
otherwise a public utility, who provides or furnishes the services 75
or commodity described in this paragraph only to himself, his 76
employees or tenants as an incident of such employee service or 77
tenancy, if such services are not sold or resold to such tenants 78
or employees on a metered or consumption basis other than the 79
submetering authorized under Section 77-3-97. 80
The term "public utility" shall not include any person not 81
otherwise a public utility, who purchases electricity on a metered 82
retail basis from the electric public utility that holds a 83
certificate of public convenience and necessity for the area in 84
which the person is located, and provides or furnishes a portion 85
of that electricity, but not electricity from any other source, to 86
the public for compensation directly and exclusively to charge 87
battery-powered electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric 88
vehicles. Any such person described in this paragraph is an 89
end-use customer, whether or not such person receives compensation 90
for battery or vehicle charging. 91
A public utility's business other than of the character 92
defined in subparagraphs (i) through (iv) of this paragraph is not 93
subject to the provisions of this chapter. 94
(e) The term "rate" means and includes every 95
compensation, charge, fare, toll, customer deposit, rental and 96
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 5 (aa\kr)

classification, or the formula or method by which such may be 97
determined, or any of them, demanded, observed, charged or 98
collected by any public utility for any service, product or 99
commodity described in this section, offered by it to the public, 100
and any rules, regulations, practices or contracts relating to any 101
such compensation, charge, fare, toll, rental or classification; 102
however, the term "rate" shall not include charges for electrical 103
current furnished, delivered or sold by one (1) public utility to 104
another for resale. 105
(f) The word "commission" shall refer to the Public 106
Service Commission of the State of Mississippi, as now existing, 107
unless otherwise indicated. 108
(g) The term "affiliated interest" or "affiliate" 109
includes: 110
(i) Any person or corporation owning or holding, 111
directly or indirectly, twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the 112
voting securities of a public utility; 113
(ii) Any person or corporation in any chain of 114
successive ownership of twenty-five percent (25%) or more of the 115
voting securities of a public utility; 116
(iii) Any corporation of which fifteen percent 117
(15%) or more of the voting securities is owned or controlled, 118
directly or indirectly, by a public utility; 119
(iv) Any corporation of which twenty-five percent 120
(25%) or more of the voting securities is owned or controlled, 121
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 6 (aa\kr)

directly or indirectly, by any person or corporation that owns or 122
controls, directly or indirectly, twenty-five percent (25%) or 123
more of the voting securities of any public utility or by any 124
person or corporation in any chain of successive ownership of 125
twenty-five percent (25%) of such securities; 126
(v) Any person who is an officer or director of a 127
public utility or of any corporation in any chain of successive 128
ownership of fifteen percent (15%) or more of voting securities of 129
a public utility; or 130
(vi) Any person or corporation that the 131
commission, after notice and hearing, determines actually 132
exercises any substantial influence or control over the policies 133
and actions of a public utility, or over which a public utility 134
exercises such control, or that is under a common control with a 135
public utility, such control being the possession, directly or 136
indirectly, of the power to direct or cause the discretion of the 137
management and policies of another, whether such power is 138
established through ownership of voting securities or by any other 139
direct or indirect means. 140
However, the term "affiliated interest" or "affiliate" shall 141
not include a joint agency organized pursuant to Section 77-5-701 142
et seq., nor a member municipality thereof. 143
(h) The term "facilities" includes all the plant and 144
equipment of a public utility, used or useful in furnishing public 145
utility service, including all real and personal property without 146
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 7 (aa\kr)

limitation, and any and all means and instrumentalities in any 147
manner owned, operated, leased, licensed, used, controlled, 148
furnished or supplied for, by or in connection with its public 149
utility business. 150
(i) The term "cost of service" includes operating 151
expenses, taxes, depreciation, net revenue and operating revenue 152
requirement at a claimed rate of return from public utility 153
operations. 154
(j) The term "lead-lag study" includes an analysis to 155
determine the amount of capital which investors in a public 156
utility, the rates of which are subject to regulation under the 157
provisions of this chapter, must provide to meet the day-to-day 158
operating costs of the public utility prior to the time such costs 159
are recovered from customers, and the measurement of (i) the lag 160
in collecting from the customer the cost of providing service, and 161
(ii) the lag in paying the cost of providing service by the public 162
utility. 163
(k) The term "broadband services" means any service 164
that consists of or includes a high-speed access capability to 165
transmit at a rate that is not less than two hundred (200) 166
kilobits per second either in the upstream or downstream direction 167
and either: 168
(i) Is used to provide access to the Internet, or 169
(ii) Provides computer processing, information 170
storage, information content or protocol conversion, including any 171
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 8 (aa\kr)

service applications or information service provided over such 172
high-speed access service. 173
(l) The term "video services" means video programming 174
services without regard to delivery technology, including Internet 175
Protocol technology ("Internet Protocol television or IPTV") and 176
video programming provided as a part of a service that enables 177
users to access content, information, email or other services 178
offered over the public Internet. The term "video programming" 179
means any programming as defined in 47 USCS Section 522(20). 180
(m) The term "Voice over Internet Protocol services" or 181
"VoIP services" means any service that: (i) enables real-time, 182
two-way voice communications that originate from or terminate to 183
the user's location in Internet Protocol or any successor 184
protocol; (ii) uses a broadband connection from the user's 185
location; and (iii) permits users generally to receive calls that 186
originate on the Public Switched Telephone Network and to 187
terminate calls to the Public Switched Telephone Network. 188
(n) The term "commercial mobile services" means any 189
services as defined in 47 USCS Section 332(d). 190
(o) The term "Internet Protocol-enabled services" or 191
"IP-enabled services" means any service, capability, 192
functionality, or application provided using Internet Protocol, or 193
any successor protocol, that enables an end user to send or 194
receive a communication in Internet Protocol format, or any 195
successor format, regardless of whether the communications is 196
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 9 (aa\kr)

voice, data or video. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall 197
apply to retail services that are tariffed by the commission. 198
(p) "Broadband service provider" means an entity that 199
provides broadband services to others on a wholesale basis or to 200
end-use customers on a retail basis. 201
(q) "Broadband operator" means a broadband service 202
provider that uses the electric delivery system of any public 203
utility of the type as defined in paragraph (d)(i) of this section 204
with the public utility's consent to provide broadband services. 205
(r) "Electric delivery system" means the poles, lines, 206
fiber, cables, broadband system, materials, equipment, easements 207
and other facilities or properties used by any public utility of 208
the type as defined in paragraph (d)(i) of this section to deliver 209
or facilitate the delivery, sale or use of electric energy. 210
(s) "Eligible municipality" means any municipality with 211
a population of greater than One Hundred Thousand (100,000) 212
according to the latest decennial census which has been the 213
subject of litigation by the United States Environmental 214
Protection Agency for violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act, 215
42 USC Section 300(f) et seq. 216
(t) "Eligible homeowners association" means any 217
homeowners association created and governed by restrictive 218
covenants, if the subdivision subject to these covenants: 219
(i) Was constructed prior to 1970 outside of 220
municipal boundaries; 221
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 10 (aa\kr)

(ii) Was subsequently annexed by an eligible 222
municipality, irrespective of whether the municipality was an 223
eligible municipality at the time of annexation or subsequently 224
became eligible; and 225
(iii) Is adjacent to which a ground water well 226
system originally designed to supply the subdivision which 227
continues to provide drinking water to a private user is located. 228
SECTION 2. Section 77-3-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 229
amended as follows: 230
77-3-5. (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and 231
subject only to the limitations imposed in this chapter and in 232
accordance with the provisions of this chapter, the Public Service 233
Commission shall have exclusive original jurisdiction over the 234
intrastate business and property of public utilities and, for 235
purposes of clarification of the existing scope of said exclusive 236
original jurisdiction, such exclusive original jurisdiction 237
extends, but is not limited to: the establishment of retail 238
rates; challenges, including customer complaints, to the amount of 239
a retail rate or customer bill or whether such rate is just and 240
reasonable; and challenges to the validity or accuracy of rates 241
charged by a public utility, or to the accuracy or reliability of 242
information submitted to the Public Service Commission by a public 243
utility or other person in support of or in opposition to a 244
proposed or approved rate, regardless of the legal theory upon 245
which any such challenge is made. However, the commission shall 246
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 11 (aa\kr)

not have jurisdiction over the production and gathering of natural 247
gas or the sale of natural gas in or within the vicinity of the 248
field where produced, or over the facilities and equipment 249
utilized in any such operations, including, but not limited to, 250
such facilities as separators, scrubbers and gasoline plants of 251
all types. Further, the commission shall not have jurisdiction 252
over the governance, management or other internal affairs of 253
entities as described by paragraphs (b) and (c) below. Moreover, 254
the commission shall not have jurisdiction to regulate the rates 255
for the sales and/or distribution: 256
(a) Of gas, water, electricity or sewage disposal 257
services by municipalities to such persons as said municipalities 258
are authorized by law to serve; 259
(b) Of gas or electricity by cooperative gas or 260
electric power associations to the members thereof as consumers, 261
except as provided by Section 77-3-17, where service is rendered 262
in a municipality; 263
(c) Of water or sewage disposal service by nonprofit 264
corporations or associations where the governing body of such 265
corporation or association is elected by the consumers thereof or 266
appointed by the county board of supervisors; or 267
(d) Of water by districts organized under the 268
provisions of Chapter 45, Laws of 1966-1967, Extraordinary 269
Session. 270
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 12 (aa\kr)

(2) All Hinshaw natural gas pipeline systems shall be 271
subject to the regulation and jurisdiction of the commission with 272
regard to rates, services, and facilities. 273
SECTION 3. Section 77-3-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is 274
amended as follows: 275
77-3-11. (1) No person shall construct, acquire, extend or 276
operate equipment for manufacture, mixing, generating, 277
transmitting or distributing natural or manufactured gas, or mixed 278
gas, or water, for any intrastate sale to or for the public for 279
compensation, or for the operation of a public utility operating a 280
business and equipment or facilities as contemplated by * * * 281
Section 77-3-3(d)(iii), without first having obtained from the 282
commission a certificate that the present or future public 283
convenience and necessity require or will require the operation of 284
such equipment or facility. 285
(2) No person shall construct, acquire, extend or operate 286
equipment for manufacture, generating, transmitting or 287
distributing electricity for any intrastate or interstate sale to 288
or for the public for compensation without first having obtained 289
from the commission a certificate that the present and future 290
public convenience and necessity require or will require the 291
operation of such equipment or facility. Provided, however, 292
nothing herein contained shall be construed to require a joint 293
municipal electric power agency organized in accordance with the 294
provisions of Section 77-5-201 et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, 295
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 13 (aa\kr)

to obtain any permit, license, certificate or approval from the 296
Mississippi Public Service Commission. 297
(3) No person shall construct, acquire, extend or operate 298
equipment or facilities for collecting, transmitting, treating or 299
disposing of sewage, or otherwise operating an intrastate sewage 300
disposal service, to or for the public for compensation, without 301
first having obtained from the commission a certificate that the 302
present or future public convenience and necessity require or will 303
require the operation of such equipment or facilities. 304
(4) However, nothing herein shall be construed to require 305
any certificate of convenience and necessity from the commission 306
for the production and gathering of natural gas, the sale of 307
natural gas in or within the vicinity of the field where produced, 308
the distribution or sale of liquefied petroleum gas, the sale of 309
natural gas to the ultimate consumer for use as a motor vehicle 310
fuel, or for the facilities and equipment utilized in any such 311
operations. 312
(5) Upon complaints filed by not less than ten percent (10%) 313
of the total subscribers or three thousand five hundred (3,500) 314
subscribers of a public utility, whichever is less, then the 315
commission shall hold a hearing on the adequacy of service as 316
contemplated in Section 77-3-21. 317
(6) With respect to any facility or contract for a facility 318
serving a customer under Section 77-3-271, nothing in this section 319
shall supersede the provisions of Section 77-3-271. 320
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 14 (aa\kr)

(7) (a) No person shall construct, acquire, extend or 321
operate a Hinshaw natural gas pipeline system without having first 322
obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or 323
future public convenience and necessity require or will require 324
such action. Approvals from the commission shall certify approval 325
and state acknowledgement of the commission's jurisdiction over 326
facilities, rates and services. 327
(b) Such certification shall deem the authorized 328
activity, including all associated facilities, rates and services, 329
as just and reasonable, carrying all such associated authority and 330
rights, including, but not limited to, eminent domain rights. 331
(c) Hinshaw natural gas pipeline systems shall not be 332
required to seek authority from the commission for minor 333
construction activities, including, but not limited to, 334
construction of new interconnects, and/or maintenance activities 335
related to existing pipeline facilities. 336
(d) All jurisdictional contracts executed between a 337
Hinshaw natural gas pipeline system and a third party shall be 338
filed with the commission. Within thirty (30) days of filing, the 339
commission shall either approve the contract with a finding that 340
it is just and reasonable and in the public interest or order 341
further review of the contract prior to approval. Such review by 342
the commission may include analysis-type mechanisms including, but 343
not limited to, cost of service. If the commission has not 344
ordered further review of the contract within thirty (30) days 345
S. B. No. 2061 *SS26/R686* ~ OFFICIAL ~
26/SS26/R686
PAGE 15 (aa\kr)
ST: Hinshaw natural gas pipeline systems;
consider as public utilities.
from the date of filing, the contract shall be considered 346
automatically approved. 347
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from 348
and after July 1, 2026. 349